75 Airplane Airport Travel Hacks ✈️ Flying Tips for 2021

Welcome to this video about air travel and how to make it less bad, perhaps even enjoyable. I have literally been practicing for this exact moment for the past 27 years. I have visited more than 50 countries and on my way I have gathered all of these tips that I'm going to share with you today and there are 75 of them. So I have divided them into different categories and our first task is to find you the perfect seat. If you're a bit afraid of flying, you really don't like turbulence, then I recommend you sit in the middle of the plane. These seats tend to be a bit more stable so you don't really feel those bumps and shakes. And one more tip is to fly in either the morning or late evening in the night because that is when storm winds tend to just be a bit more chilled out, would be the scientific explanation for that. Now if you're someone that really wants to get on and get off really quickly and efficiently, then obviously seats that are at the front of the plane would be your best bet. But if you would prefer to get really good service and be really close to the toilets, then I recommend you sit at the back. Now let's zoom in and pick the perfect seating arrangement. If you love nice views and you want to get some really good rest, then I recommend my personal favorite, the window seat. But there are two downsides to this seat. Number one, it tends to be colder than all the other seats. And number two, you need to sneak past your fellow passengers if you want to go to the bathroom. So if those two things bother you, then I recommend you book an aisle seat instead. As for the middle seat, I mean, does anyone like sitting there? I presume not, so let's just not even worry about that one. But I do have a sneaky tip if you're traveling with somebody else. Try booking the window seat and the aisle seat. If somebody sees that those two are taken when they're booking their own seat, it's very unlikely that they're going to put themselves in the middle. And if they happen to do that, it should be very easy to switch with them because you can offer them a better seat. If you want to get a bit geeky about your seat selection, then check out SeatGuru.com. It's a really handy website that will look at your specific plane and tell you what the best places to sit are based on a bunch of criteria like the amount of legroom, the availability of USB plugs, and stuff like that. If you happen to be checking in a bit late and your preferred seat is taken, then don't worry. ExpertFlyer.com allows you to set up alerts so that when somebody changes their seat, you get a notification and you can immediately swoop in and snap that up. If your travels are time sensitive or you are a bit impatient, then I recommend you book a flight in the morning. If something were to happen with the flight itself, the connections, if there were to be delays or cancellations, it is much more likely that you will be rebooked on another flight on the same day. Whereas if you book one really late in the evening, then there might not be any other flights available. And if these delays are caused by external factors that are outside of the airline's control, like weather for example, then you probably won't even get accommodation reimbursed by the airline and you will just end up staying at the airport. Our next focus is going to be money saving. If you are trying to travel on a budget and find flights that are as cheap as possible, then definitely travel light. A lot of low-cost carriers like Reiner or EasyJet in Europe tend to have these base fares that basically just include a personal item, i.e. a backpack or a handbag that fits in the seat in front of you. It's not much to work with, but if you can pack lightly, then you will be traveling for little to no money. If that isn't feasible, however, you maybe want to take a big camera or a bunch of electronics or you just want to have more than two outfits, then do book a carry-on rather than checked baggage, if you can, because these tend to be a lot less expensive. This next tip is a little bit sneaky, but again, all you impatient folk are going to thank me because if you order a special meal, you will get served before everybody else does. And there are so many special meals available from vegetarian and vegan options to halal, kosher, low sodium. I've seen ones that are literally just a fruit platter for people that I guess only eat fruit. These next two tips are pretty basic, but it's worth repeating. The first is to check in online and as soon as you do that, download all the documents onto your phone and especially if you have an iPhone, download them to your wallet because when you lock your screen, they will show up there and it's just super easy to access them really quickly. While you're downloading those boarding passes, also download your airline's app. Most airlines tend to have these and these apps offer the best up-to-date information on your flight. Pardon the interruption, but I just wanted to let you know that I have Instagram and TikTok. If you wanted to follow me on different platforms, then please do and also don't forget to subscribe. Okay, that is all. If you have a credit card, check that it doesn't offer some kind of perks. They sometimes offer lounge access, sometimes you can collect miles with your everyday purchases and those miles accumulate to then result maybe in a plane ticket or an upgrade. And just generally speaking, if you are making purchases anyway, why not get something back? There is one more thing. Yes, the Hopper app. I am not sponsored by Hopper and I only recently found out about this app, but I think it's really handy because it lets you set up flight price drop alerts. So if there are changes to the fare, maybe it's getting more expensive so you know you have to book or maybe it's getting less expensive because of the time of week. There are factors like this that come into play and again I would be happy to make a separate video on this. Skyscanner also allows you to set up these alerts. That is all the stuff that you need to know about booking your flight. Now let's move on to our next category which is preparing for the airport and packing. This first tip is incredibly basic and I know you've heard it a hundred times, but I'm just gonna say it. Bring an empty water bottle. There is nothing as, well there are many things that are as annoying, but it is still very annoying to get to the airport and realize you have to pay like three pounds, four dollars for a bottle of water where there are water fountains all over the place where you can just get it for free. I mean it's water. It's also more environmentally friendly so that's an added bonus. One thing that I have learned in doing research for this video is that you are allowed to bring ice through security. If you freeze your water that is apparently a-okay. I don't really see the logic but anyway it isn't something I'd personally do because do you know what ice does? It melts. My next tip is about luggage tags. If you are putting one on your bag and it is a good idea to do in case it gets lost, consider buying one that has a flap on top that covers your sensitive information. A few more practical tips for security. Number one, don't wear belts with metal buckles or anything that is likely to beep when you're going through security. It is just a needless annoyance. If you're wearing giant winter boots for example, just put them in your luggage. It's not really worth it. And number two, take all of your liquids and put them into one of those transparent pouches before you get to the airport. I know they're free at the airport but it's so annoying having to rummage through your bag then finding out that you have packed too many liquids. You can't get them through security. If you're flying to a destination that you require a visa for, you are most likely going to get landing cards once you're on the plane. And on those landing cards they almost always ask for the address of where you're going to be staying. So before you get to the airport or at least before you board the plane, make sure you have that available somewhere. Next up let's talk about luggage. I definitely recommend you buy easily identifiable luggage so that when it's going down the conveyor belt you can quickly identify your own bag and also to prevent somebody else accidentally taking your bag, mistaking it for their own. But if you aren't on the market for a new bag, which is totally fine, they are expensive, then just spruce yours up with something simple like a ribbon or maybe one of those covers that you can buy on Amazon. I'm linking it below. If you are worried about losing your luggage, there are steps you can take to find it really easily. One of those is getting a tracker. And a tracker basically, well, it's a tracker. I don't know. I don't know why I felt the need to explain that. You should check before you put a tracker in your luggage though because some airlines don't allow GPS devices. Next up I'm going to talk you through a list of things that I think you should bring, starting with chargers. Obviously you should bring one, but I do recommend you bring a classic USB-C one rather than one of these more modern lightning ones because at airports quite often you have charging points that don't even require plugs like this one. All you need is just the cable, but they, I have literally never seen any that cater to Apple's whimsy because Apple is just silly. I do still buy their products, but they do annoy me. Feel free to bring your own food. You can bring, you know, trail mix, nuts, fruit, anything like that. But also if you want something a bit more filling, you can bring oatmeal, ramen, or instant soups, and then just add hot water. At most airports you are able to get hot water free of charge, and this is also true of most airplanes. Another thing you should bring is a sweater or a scarf. Airplanes get incredibly cold, especially those window seats, like I mentioned earlier, and you just want to be comfortable. Some long-haul flights have blankets available, but don't count on it. And one thing you can also bring for optimal comfort is an empty pillowcase that you can then stuff with your excess clothing. You can also bring one of those neck pillows, of course, but I find them a hassle. If you're going on a long-haul flight, you should invest in a pair of compression socks. I know they're not super sexy, but they are a worthwhile purchase because they improve your circulation and they keep you from the very negligible but still real risk of developing deep vein thrombosis, which is a very serious condition where you develop a blood clot which can then travel to your lungs and kill you. So, sorry, if anyone is a nervous flyer, that probably wasn't useful information, but it is worth knowing about these tiny, tiny negligible but still real risks. While I'm being a downer, let's talk about one more fun topic, radiation. When you fly, you are exposed to more radiation than you are on the ground, just by virtue of being higher up in the air. And one thing that you should do to prevent it from impacting you is to wear sunscreen. Simple. Might as well just do it. You never know. If you're someone who struggles with sleeping on planes, then I recommend you invest in some melatonin pills, a good eye mask, and earplugs. If you are somebody that tends to wear makeup, I know I am, then I recommend you don't do it when you're flying. But if you are uncomfortable being at the airport without your makeup on, and look, I get it, my skin's actually been really good lately, but normally it doesn't play nice. So you can wear makeup at the airport, but then just make sure you pack some makeup wipes so that you can take it off once you board. For all of you who are brave enough, bring one of those sheet masks to put on your skin when you're flying. When I was flying to China, I noticed a lot of girls doing it, and you know what? It made me want to do it as well, because planes are incredibly dry. The air just saps all the moisture from your system. Speaking of which, if, like me, you have poor eyesight, look, I can't judge, then don't wear contacts. Wear glasses, because the dry air just makes it feel like you've got sandpaper behind your eyelids. Okay, here are a few more things you should bring, starting with spare underwear. Look, delays happen, and the last thing you want is to be stuck in an airport already annoyed and feeling uncomfortable after your flight, and then realizing that you don't have clean underwear to change into. And if you don't have much space, just bring one of these. Another thing, sorry, that's a bit plastered. Another thing you should bring is a good set of earphones or headphones, because although they do give them out on some long-haul flights, they are by headphones that are noise-canceling, because these are super handy for frequent flyers. Planes are loud in and of themselves, but also people create so much noise. I know babies get a lot of, you know, they get a lot of hate on planes, don't they? But I will personally say from my experience, babies are not the biggest problem. The biggest problem tend to be drunk adults, or just adults in general. We're not as great as we think we are. If you are traveling with somebody else, I also recommend you invest, they're about a dollar, so a big investment, into an earphone splitter, so that you can listen to stuff together, especially if you get this next thing I want to recommend, which is a stand for your phone. Mine's actually built into the case, so I can stand it up like so, and I use this a lot because I tend to watch Netflix on my phone when I'm flying, so if you're traveling with somebody else, you can make it a group activity. Fun! If you're traveling with a lot of luggage, you might want to consider investing in a j-hook, which is a very simple device that just clips onto your big bag, and then you can add the small bag on top of it. That makes wheeling it around the airport just so much easier, and they're not expensive. I've linked some below. A lot of airlines and airports no longer allow cloth masks, they require you to wear a respirator, so you might as well bring one. Okay, two more points on packing, and these are actually two separate pouches. You should have one pouch in which you keep all of your documents. I'm talking boarding passes, passport, visa documents, COVID documentation, anything that you might need that you have printed out in one bag separately, or create maybe a folder on your phone if you're doing everything electronically. And number two, a pouch for all those tiny essentials that you will need on your flight. Hand sanitizer, lip balm, hand cream, contacts, eye drops, chewing gum, or candy if you want that kind of thing. That's not really judging, you should have candy. Moving on to our next big category, which is at the airport and things you can or should do there. First tip, incredibly boring, get there early. I have literally missed flights because I chose to get to the airport late. Next tip is to take a picture of where you've parked your car if you are bringing a car to the airport. It's so incredibly easy to forget. When you get to the airport, drop your checked luggage immediately. Who needs it? Wheeling around those big suitcases is annoying and it's pointless. And I have a secret little tip that not everyone knows about, and that is curbside check-in. It's not that common in Europe, but it is relatively common in the US. And that is a service, sometimes it's a paid service, but sometimes it's not, where you can literally get out of the car and before you even enter the building, you can hand over your luggage, you get your boarding passes, done. If you can't do that for whatever reason, and you are stuck wheeling around some big suitcases, if you have two of them, you don't have to have one in each hand, but you can just bring their handles together and kind of clasp them like this. And that makes it easier to lead them around. Another thing you can do when you're checking your bags is ask for a fragile sticker. You shouldn't misuse the system because if everyone does it, obviously the system collapses. But if you do genuinely have items in your luggage that you're worried about, then a fragile sticker will protect them, not in and of itself, but because of what it means. It means that your luggage will be put on top of all the other luggage, and that also tends to mean that you are going to get it early when you go to the carousel after your flight. One thing you should never do is throw away your luggage receipt, by the way. At least take a picture of it, because if your bags get lost, some airlines do ask for these. Done talking about checking your bags, now we're going to move on to security. There is one tip that I have seen in literally every single video about airline and airport tips, but it is a good one, and that is to go to the left when you're going through security. Most people are right-handed, although I am not, but that means that they tend to go to the right when going through security or any line. Okay, next up, I've got two dirty tips for you. Not that kind of dirty, actual disgusting filth. The dirtiest place at the airport isn't a toilet. It is actually those bins that you use to put your luggage into and all sorts of things when you're going through security. People put muddy boots in them. They put, I don't know, diapers in them? Probably. They probably do. They got to put them somewhere, so those things are disgusting. If you are a germaphobe, bring hand sanitizer and use it as soon as you're done handling those. And my second dirty tip is to use the toilet outside of security. It tends to be less busy. And a kind of a bonus tip, we're not even going to count this one, is to use the first cubicle, because there have been studies done on this, and that tends to be the cleanest, least used cubicle. Right, you've gone through security, you have arrived at your gate, and it's incredibly busy. There is no space to sit, but you really want to. This is a really simple tip, but a lot of people don't tend to do it for some reason. You can just go sit at another empty gate and wait there. If you do have a long wait at the airport, I'm talking three plus hours, then do consider visiting an airport lounge. I know they seem wildly luxurious and like they're for top one percenters only, but you can actually get really cheap passes on Craigslist, where a lot of people sell them at huge discounts. And as I mentioned earlier, some credit cards also give you free or discounted lounge access. If you can't get into the lounge, you can at least steal from it. I don't mean actual theft, of course, I mean stealing their free Wi-Fi. And the way to access this is using Fox Nomad's incredible resource. It's a blog post where he has listed, he's gathered passwords for lounges and other sorts of networks in airports all over the world. Speaking of useful resources, if you happen to be spending the night at an airport because of a long delay or maybe you have a layover, do check out sleeping at airports dot com. This is a wonderful website that lists all the best places to sleep. You know, which terminal should I go to? Where can I find charging points, bathrooms? There is all sorts of information on there. Two more little hacks if you're a charger behind, you can head to lost and found. And at most airports, they have this rule where after 90 days, they can just give stuff away for free, head to duty free and cover yourself head to toe in free samples. I before Covid, to be fair, I'm not sure I would do it now. But if the world ever calms down again, then I recommend you head to the Lemaire counter. These creams literally cost 500 dollars, 400 pounds easy and use it as hand cream. It's there. Is this bad? Maybe this makes me a bit of a bad person, but it's that one way that I really like to treat myself. I feel like I'm cheating the system. It feels good with my Netflix subscription. And I know this is also true of Amazon Prime and probably a lot of other streaming services. You have the option to download all of your series and films offline. And I literally use this feature every day. Even when I'm commuting here in London, I will just download all of my series of offline and then watch them when I'm on the tube. You can do the same on the airplane. My next step is about overweight baggage. If you have a carry on that just needs to go on a bit of a diet, then you can take stuff out of it and put it in your personal item instead. This is true of airlines like Ryan They typically don't weigh your personal item. That, as a reminder, is either a backpack or a handbag that fits in the seat in front of you. So if it's something that's heavy but not too bulky, you can just stuff it in and pretend it doesn't exist. And another sneaky tip is to buy something at the airport and get one of those big airport shopping bags and then stuff your excess stuff into that because they are unlikely to weigh that or even really give it much thought if it's stuff you bought at the airport. So sneaky! Okay, I've got four more pre-departure tips and these are not sneaky. These are just very practical. Number one, if you have a short layover somewhere, do tell your air hostess or your air host because they might move you up toward the front of the plane so that you can get off really quickly. If you do have a tight connection, also google a map of the airport that you're going to be transferring through to make sure that you know exactly how to get from the terminal that you're going to arrive to to the terminal and the specific gate that you're leaving from. And number three, make use of this wonderful website. FlightAware is a really handy app that tells you exactly where your plane is at any time so you might end up having more information than the gate agents if you end up using it. And my final tip pre-departure is to set an alarm. I have actually once, this is so embarrassing, but I missed a flight that I was at the gate for. It was a weird time in my life and I was very stressed and I just didn't look up and I missed it. That was so dumb actually. Okay, we're gonna close this category and we're gonna talk about things you can do on the plane. Little hacks how to make it a little more comfortable. My first tip in this category is not to rush boarding. So many people swarm the counter the second they announce that boarding's open and I don't understand it. The added benefit of boarding last or being among the last to board is that you get to see where all the free seats are and you can take your pick. You can ask your air host or air hostess to move you. But here's a there is still space and that quite often might be behind you and that is not a good place to put your baggage because it'll be really hard to retrieve it when you're trying to get off the plane. As soon as you board that plane, change the time zone on your phone. This is especially important if you're going on a long-haul flight because changing the time on your phone allows you to, you know, adapt your body to this new time zone and prevent jet lag. My next tip isn't about jet lag. It is about jet belly. This is what happens when you bloat while flying. This is incredibly common. In fact, I don't really think I know anyone who doesn't suffer from it and one way that you can prevent it is by avoiding carbonated beverages and alcohol. These two will just not help you. Also salty food. If you do feel sick while you're on the plane and you forgot to pack your medicine then just ask the air host or air hostess because quite often they will have simple painkillers like ibuprofen, paracetamol, maybe even diarrhea pills if you are suffering from jet belly or something far worse that I don't want to get into. Be nice to flight attendants. They have a very difficult job. People somehow turn into giant babies whenever they fly. They become impatient, they become rude, they become cranky and frankly that must be a lot to deal with. Remember how I told you about the dirtiest place in the airport, those security bins? Well now I'm going to tell you about the dirtiest place on the airplane and pause it, see if you can guess, maybe leave your guesses in a comment below. Okay, it is tray tables where people do all sorts of disgusting things. You know, some people will change dirty diapers on there, some people will just put their feet, I mean is that possible? People will find a way. People always find a way to be disgusting. We have one final big category, although this one is quite small because I just have two tips, and that is after flying. The first tip is if you're getting an Uber, try not to book it from the airport but rather from somewhere near the airport. A lot of cars get charged just for entering that space, so if you leave it you will be paying a lot less money. And if you are getting a taxi and you're in a foreign country, I recommend you google the fares first before kind of haggling and trying to figure out who might take you because quite often you might be charged a little more than you would necessarily have to pay. Get that money! If your flight was delayed, you might as well be compensated for it. There are different rules in the EU, different rules in the US, so you might have to do a bit of googling but it's definitely worth it. Sometimes airlines will give you air miles, it's quite easy to get, and sometimes it will be cold hard cash. These were my tips, I hope you enjoyed them, and if you did, if you have any additional ones, leave them in a comment below, otherwise I bring out new videos every Friday. So I hope to see you then!